Geoff Johns ending his run as DC’s ‘Green Lantern’ writer

After nine years of working together, Geoff Johns feels that Hal Jordan can get by just fine without him.

The longtime DC Comics scribe is calling it quits on writing "Green Lantern," a title he's been associated with since 2004. Johns, who is also DC's Chief Creative Officer, will be leaving the series to concentrate on "Justice League." Johns first started writing for "Green Lantern" back in 2004 with the six-issue mini-series, "Green Lantern: Rebirth," which is credited with bringing such series characters as Guy Gardner, Kyle Raner, John Stewart and especially Hal Jordan (considered to be the most popular of the Green Lanterns, if not the all-time fan favorite) back to the forefront of DC Comics lore. The mini-series also explored the convoluted six-decade history of the Green Lantern Corps, a team of cosmic guardians with powerful rings that give them various supernatural abilities.

Johns also explored -- and revised -- the Green Lantern mythos as a contributor to "The New 52," a title that serves as a reboot of the sprawling (and often self-contradictory) DC universe.

"I'm really proud of all the stuff we've built with Green Lantern," Johns said to The Associated Press. "The universe has expanded and will live well past my run. It was more than just telling another story, but really giving back to the character by expanding and adding to their mythology."

Johns' curtain call on "Green Lantern" will be issue #20, which will be, in the words of the writer, a "monster of an issue."

"It really, for me, ties everything else and ends the Green Lantern saga," Johns said of the 64-page book, which is set to be published in May. "This story -- the way the story evolves -- I think people will get a sense of finality from it."

Johns isn't revealing any details on his upcoming work with "Justice League" other than saying the time was right for him to make the superhero team his primary focus. He'll be working with writer Jeff Lemire on the title and will continue to write "Aquaman" as well.

At least both "Green Lantern" and "Justice League" are thriving as comic book titles, as their incarnations on the big screen haven't fared so well. The film adaptation of "Green Lantern" (2011), starring Ryan Reynolds as test pilot Hal Jordan, was a critical and commercial failure reviled by even the most hardcore fans of the character, and the would-be movie debut of "Justice League" seems to be stalled as Warner Bros. may be scrapping Will Beall's script and starting from scratch.